Kira's POV
Maven's knife is three inches from my heart when Lucian moves.
He's impossibly fast, fueled by our bond and the desperation we both feel. His body slams into Maven's, knocking her sideways. The knife meant for my heart slices across his arm instead.
Blood sprays. Red, bright, painful.
Through our bond, I feel his pain like it's my own. It burns through my arm even though I'm not the one bleeding.
"Stop!" I shout, putting myself between them. "Maven, please! We can save your sister another way!"
"There is no other way!" Maven's face is twisted with anguish. She's crying, her whole body shaking. "Mordain said if I don't bring him your head by dawn, he'll—" Her voice breaks. "He'll do things worse than death."
Through the bond, Lucian's anger flares hot. Mordain is a monster.
Tell me something I don't know, I think back.
Maven lunges again. This time I'm ready. My shadow magic responds, creating a barrier between us. But my curse makes the shadows unstable, flickering like a dying candle.
"I don't want to hurt you," I tell Maven. "You're my friend. My sister."
"Then let me kill you quickly!" She slams against my shadow barrier, her knife sparking against the darkness. "Please, Kira. Make this easy. Let me save her!"
My heart breaks. Maven and I grew up together in the Shadow Guild. We shared everything—secrets, dreams, fears. I taught her how to pick locks. She taught me how to disappear in crowds. We were supposed to protect each other forever.
Now she has to choose: me or her sister.
"What's your sister's name?" Lucian asks suddenly. His voice is calm, controlled. Through our bond, I feel his tactical mind working, searching for a solution.
Maven blinks, surprised by the question. "What?"
"Your sister. What's her name? Where is Mordain keeping her?"
"I—" Maven hesitates. "Her name is Lyra. She's twelve. Mordain has her in the Shadow Court dungeons." Fresh tears spill down her cheeks. "She's just a child. She doesn't deserve this."
Through our bond, a plan forms. Not from me or from Lucian—from both of us thinking together, our minds working as one.
"We'll save her," I say.
Maven laughs bitterly. "How? You're cursed and dying. He's been hunting you for years. You can barely save yourselves."
"Because we're soulbound now." Lucian steps forward, showing her the place on his chest where the golden-black thread used to be visible. "Shadow and light, working together. We're stronger than Mordain thinks."
Are we? I think at him.
We have to be, he thinks back. What choice do we have?
Maven stares at us, her knife still raised. Through her tears, I see hope fighting with despair. She wants to believe us. Wants to think there's a way to save both me and her sister.
But years of being an assassin have taught her that fairy tales don't come true.
"If you're lying—" she starts.
"We're not." I reach out slowly, carefully, and place my hand over her knife. The blade cuts my palm, blood dripping onto the stones. "I swear on my life, Maven. We'll save Lyra."
Through the bond, I feel Lucian's agreement. He nods. "You have my word as well. The Light Court's honor."
"The Light Court has no honor," Maven spits. But she lowers her knife. "Fine. But if my sister dies because I trusted you—"
"She won't." I pull Maven into a hug, ignoring the pain in my cut hand. "I promise."
Maven hugs me back, her whole body shaking with sobs. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Kira. I didn't want to—"
"I know. It's okay." I hold her tighter. "Mordain is using the people we love against us. That's what monsters do."
When we finally pull apart, Maven wipes her eyes. "So what's your brilliant plan?"
Lucian and I look at each other. Through the bond, we share thoughts faster than speaking:
The dungeons are heavily guarded.
But shadow magic can get us in.
And light magic can get us out.
Together, we might actually pull this off.
"We break into the Shadow Court," I say aloud. "Tonight."
Maven's eyes widen. "Are you insane? The entire Court wants you dead! And you—" She looks at Lucian. "The Light Mage walking into the Shadow Court? They'll kill you on sight!"
"Then we don't get seen." Lucian's jaw sets with determination I can feel through our bond. "We go in, get Lyra out, and disappear before anyone knows we were there."
"That's suicide," Maven says flatly.
"Maybe." I meet her eyes. "But it's the only way to save your sister and stop Mordain."
Maven considers this. I can see the war on her face—loyalty versus survival, hope versus fear. Finally, she nods. "Okay. I'll help. But we need supplies. Weapons. A way to bypass the dungeon wards."
"I know someone who can help with that," I say. "My friend Zephyr. He has contacts everywhere."
"The rogue mercenary?" Maven raises an eyebrow. "I thought he was just a rumor."
"He's very real. And very useful." I turn to Lucian. "Your arm. Let me see it."
He rolls up his sleeve, revealing the deep cut from Maven's knife. It's still bleeding, making my own arm throb with phantom pain through our bond.
I place my hand over the wound. "This might hurt."
"What are you—"
My shadow magic flows into him, knitting the torn flesh together. It's instinct, this urge to heal him. The bond makes me need to keep him safe, keep him whole.
But mixing shadow with his light creates that strange twilight magic again. The wound closes, but it leaves a silver-black scar in the shape of our bond.
"We're marked now," Lucian says quietly, staring at the scar. "Everyone will know what we are."
"Let them know." I pull my hand back, ignoring how right it felt to touch him. "We're done hiding."
Through the bond, I feel his surprise. Then his approval. Then something warmer that neither of us wants to acknowledge.
Maven clears her throat. "So. When do we leave for this suicide mission?"
"Now," Lucian and I say together.
We start walking toward Zephyr's safe house. Maven follows, her knife finally sheathed. The Threshold's dark streets are quieter now, most people hiding from the spreading Void cracks.
We're halfway there when Lucian suddenly stops. Through our bond, alarm floods through him.
"What?" I ask.
"Someone's following us." His hand goes to his sword. "Multiple people. Surrounding us."
My shadow magic flares, searching the darkness. He's right. I count six figures on the rooftops, moving to cut off our escape.
"More assassins?" Maven asks, drawing her knife again.
"No." Lucian's face goes pale. Through the bond, I feel his dread. "Worse. They're Light Court elite guards. The ones trained to kill rogue mages."
"Why are they here?" I demand.
"Because—" He swallows hard. "Because I was supposed to report back three hours ago. When I didn't, they must have sent a team to find me."
Through our bond, I understand the horrible truth: the Light Court thinks Lucian has betrayed them. They think my shadow magic has corrupted him.
They're here to kill us both.
The guards drop from the rooftops, surrounding us in a perfect circle. Their armor glows with light magic, and their weapons are designed specifically to kill shadow wielders.
One of them steps forward—a woman with cold eyes and a commander's stance. "Lucian Daybreak. You're under arrest for treason. Step away from the shadow witch."
"Seraphine—" Lucian starts, but she cuts him off.
"That's Commander Seraphine to you. You've lost the right to my friendship." Her voice is ice. "Now step away, or we'll assume you've been corrupted beyond saving."
Through the bond, I feel Lucian's heartbreak. Seraphine was his second-in-command. His friend for ten years. And now she's looking at him like he's a monster.
"I haven't been corrupted," Lucian says firmly. "We're soulbound. Kira and I—we're trying to stop the Void."
"The Void is a myth," Seraphine snaps. "And soulbonds between shadow and light are impossible. You're lying to protect a murderer."
"I'm not lying!" Lucian's light magic flares with his frustration. "Check your reports! There have been reality tears across both Courts! The Void is real, and it's spreading!"
"Enough." Seraphine draws her sword. The other guards follow her lead. "Surrender the shadow witch, or die with her. Your choice."
Lucian moves to stand in front of me. Through our bond, his decision is clear: he'll fight his own people to protect me.
Don't, I think at him. They're your friends.
You're more important, he thinks back.
The words hit me harder than any blade could.
Before anyone can move, the ground splits open. Not with the Void this time—with something worse.
Shadow magic erupts from the crack. But not my magic. This is ancient, powerful, wrong. It wraps around Seraphine and her guards, lifting them off the ground.
They scream as the shadows squeeze.
"No!" I try to use my magic to stop it, but these shadows don't answer to me.
Chancellor Mordain steps out of the crack, smiling. "Did you really think I'd let you save the girl? Let you build your little alliance?" He gestures, and the shadows squeeze harder. Seraphine's screams get louder. "Everything you love will be destroyed. Everyone you try to save will die. That's the price of your bond."
He looks at me.
"Starting with them."